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Freedom without land and schooling is not real freedom!

Ex-kamaiyas’ life still impoverished and insecure three years after they got their freedom

by Birgitte Lind Petersen, Information and Documentation Advisor, BASE Bardiya

20. July 2004

The ex-kamaiyas and landless from Sri Lanka camp in Kailali district (156 households) have just been evacuated as their camp was flooded and several houses completely destroyed. The army threw lassoes to rescue people from their homes which most of all looked like ship wrecks in a lake. Many suffer from diarrhoea, pneumonia and encephalitis, which are fatal to ex-kamaiyas due to their unstable shelter and lack of treatment. Not least the little child that was born one day prior to evacuation. BASE, Red Cross and District Development Committee try to help with a little food (chewra) and medicine, but there is no overall strategy by the government for how to solve this problem that is growing day by day…

On the 3rd anniversary, of their freedom, Friday the 2nd Saaun (18th July) the former kamaiyas still need to struggle for their rights to a descent life. Many of them lack the most basic needs and rights and as they say ‘without land and education we will never be truly free’.

MS’s partner BASE supports the ex-kamaiyas, especially through the significant ‘Education for Freedom’ project, which is economically supported by Danish high school students through Operation Day’s Work (OD).

Without identity cards, no basic needs

Three years after the Kamaiyas – bonded labourers - won their freedom many are still without the identity cards that formally acknowledge them as ex-Kamaiyas and ensure them rights to get land and other rehabilitation support. Without cards they cannot get land, they have no access to health and their children do not get education.

And the ex-kamaiyas need basic support. Since they left their landlords three years ago ex-kamaiyas have had to work hard to survive. Many live in illegal camps placed in inaccessible places far from towns with work opportunities. Without land or money, the camp life provides very poor living conditions.

Serious health situation

Health is a vast problem in the camps. Many camps still lack drinking water and furthermore, there are no health posts nearby and people do not have money either to travel or buy medicine, let alone considering hospital.

Another health threat is the harsh climate in Terai affecting the fragile camp life. Last winter many ex-kamaiyas died from the devastating cold, 52 people in Bardiya district alone, as they lack proper clothes and shelter. Right now during the monsoon many camps get flooded and the small houses are not strong enough to bear through the rough weather. This and the hot and humid climate in general further brings a lot of diseases, such as diarrhoea, pneumonia, typhoid and encephalitis for which the ex-kamaiyas have no opportunities, let alone money, to get treated.

In Saantinagar camp, a permanent camp located by the highway the situation is severe. A large signboard informs about the support the camp has got, among other things a health post and a school. However, these public services are not to be found and in literally every household we visited some or all family members are very ill with high fewer and headache. None of them have can afford transport to the health post in Baansgathi. The situation is similarly critical in several camps and without any treatment even normal diseases become fatal.

Education (not) for all

Another substantial distress for the ex-kamaiyas, particularly in the temporary camps, is that their children cannot go to school, as government schools are often hours walk from the camps. And nothing is provided for them where they live. They cannot get any educational support as long as they are living illegally on government land.

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Self-help schooling

In a few camps they have build their own school but they are hard to run without government provided teachers and money. In Laaungawhaa camp in Bardiya the children did not receive any education until recently when the ex-kamaiyas applied for support from an NGO to build their own school. It is a mud house with two small rooms. The school offers class one and two, taught by voluntary teachers from the camp who have themselves only completed third/fourth class. Every month the 254 households contribute each 1 rupee and a little rice if possible for the teachers’ salary. However, until now the teachers have not been paid and teaching is very irregular.

The quality of the education is very low, a boy from the second class shows his torn books but is not able to read or tell about the content. This is hardly surprising, as the teachers have lived their lives as bonded labourers.

A new generation of children risk being marginalized and deprived of education, which is so vital if they should have opportunities to actively control their own lives.

Right to be an ex-kamaiya

The process of getting identity cards is a delicate one. The landlords have to identity their former Kamaiyas and authorise the application letters in order for it to be approved by government. This procedure creates immense obstacles for many ex-kamaiyas who literally fled when their freedom was announced and for all those (which was the majority) who had very bad relations with their landlords and thus are sure not to get help from them. Also those who were thrown out when the landlords had to pay a daily minimum of 80 rupees cannot really go back for documentation.

Almost 7000 ex-Kamaiyas have received identity cards in Bardiya district and a certified right to land and rehabilitation. These ex-kamaiyas are supposed to automatically get land, economic support for house building and instalment as well as skill training according to the land reform office. However, many are still waiting for their support.

Furthermore, outreach and flexible schooling programmes, health posts, water pumps and other amenities are only available for certified ex-kamaiyas. However, many have waited three years now, and for those around 7300 people in Bardiya who only registered last year several years may pass before they know whether they actually get authorised as real ex-kamaiyas and can expect to get land.

The predicament of support

There is currently a vast dilemma in the approach to support ex-kamaiyas. The government only support those who have been through the strenuous process of acquiring identity cards and the NGOs do not dare to support those ex-kamaiyas living in illegal camps as they risk colliding with the government. Furthermore, the coordination internally between government agencies such as Land Reform Office, District Development Committee and District Education Officer as well as between these agencies and the NGOs is very weak.

In Kailali, all the ex-kamaiyas from an illegal camp in the forest were recently removed and their houses destroyed. They now live under simple plastic covers, without walls or any other protection on land that is flooded and scarce.  Governmental frost protection laws overruled the responsibility of supporting the ex-kamaiyas.

It is extremely critical since these people who are living in the vacuum between achieving their legal freedom and living in real freedom, are among the absolutely most poor and vulnerable in the country. Nonetheless, support is directed by rigid rules and arbitrary logic instead of by needs.

 Freedom for Education project

OD, MS-Nepal and BASE’s ’Education for Freedom’ project aims specifically to support the children of ex-kamaiyas. However, as a main objective of the project is working within the government schools and therefore to hand over the responsibility after a while and furthermore to promote a general uplift of the primary education in Nepal, it becomes complicated to support education in the illegal camps. Nonetheless this is where the situation is most critical.

In Saailahi camp in Bardiya they have built their own little school, but as they have no money to pay a teacher they asked the DEO for help. They were however, rejected as they do not live in a permanent settlement. They have lived in this camp for three years now and the children are paying the price for these doubtful principles of the state.

BASE supports ex-kamaiyas with advocacy for identity card and right to get the land on which they live, in order to be able to have the government providing primary education in these camps. This is not enough however. The government aims to guarantee ‘Education for All’ and we must ensure that it really encompasses all, also the poor and marginalized citizens who have neither identity cards, land or home. It ought to be possible to find interim solutions whereby also children who happen to live in illegal camps get their right to education fulfilled.

Empowerment and recycled demands

In order to carry out the ‘Education for Freedom’ project many other issues also need to be advocated for and there are valid reasons for the ex-kamaiyas to raise their voices three years after liberation and fortunately the ex-kamaiyas are being vocal.

When they won their freedom the movement was heavily supported by NGOs, especially BASE. Today the ex-kamaiyas have formed their own organisation Mukta Kamaiya Digo Bikaas Kamaasu in Bardiya (and two in Kailali) and they arrange their own freedom day rally and celebrations. These people who have lived their whole life in slavery are getting empowered.

Looking back at the claims asserted in the massive ex-kamaiya rally carried out in Kailali one year after the freedom was won there is still a lot to fight for. Although some have got land and housing, for most ex-kamaiyas the demands are the same as two years ago (last year there was no rally due to emergency):

  • Identity cards – also for the women

  • Free Education

  • Facilities for health, food and drinking water

  • Land for all – 10 khataa per family

  • Wood and economic support for house building

  • Minimum wages for all

  • Official acknowledgment of the Freedom Day, as a holiday

On Friday the ex-kamaiyas in Bardiya submitted a memorandum to the Ministry of Land Reforms with these demands during their rally. This week (4.-9. Saaun) they have sit-down strikes in front of the District Development Office and the Land Reform Office (in Kailali and Bardiya, the two districts housing the vast majority of ex-kamaiyas) in order to direct attention to their problems. They are sleeping outside without plastic, without food and without any extra cloth wherefore BASE is supporting with basic necessities from its emergency fund. Furthermore, BASE helps plan each day’s activities with the responsible ex-kamaiyas.

Ex-kamaiyas’ problems are clearly not solved after freedom was declared. They still face numerous difficulties, which are often interlinked. Hence, MS and BASE need to work on multiple levels to support ex-kamaiyas even though the main focus is on education. The social reality implies that land rights, identity cards and interim educational support are among the issues we will also have to work with for the ‘Education for Freedom’ to be a success!

Go to
Operation Day's Work own website on the project in Nepal - site mostly in Danish